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cover next page > title: About Translation Multilingual Matters (Series) ; 74 author: Newmark, Peter. publisher: Multilingual Matters isbn10 | asin: 1853591173 print isbn13: 9781853591174 ebook isbn13: 9780585209692 language: English subject Translating and interpreting. publication date: 1991 lcc: P306.N468 1991eb ddc: 418/.02 subject: Translating and interpreting. cover next page > < previous page page_iii next page > Page iii MULTILINGUAL MATTERS 74 Series Editor: Derrick Sharp About Translation Peter Newmark Centre for Translation and Language Studies, University of Surrey MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon Philadelphia Adelaide < previous page page_iii next page > < previous page page_iv next page > Page iv For my daughter Liz Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Newmark, Peter About Translation/Peter Newmark Multilingual Matters: 74 Includes bibliographical references and index Multilingual Mattters (Series): 74 P306.N468 1991 418'02 dc20 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1-85359-118-1 (hbk) ISBN 1-85359-117-3 (pbk) Multilingual Matters Ltd UK: Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon BS21 7SJ. USA: 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007, USA. Australia: P.O. Box 6025,95 Gilles Street, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. Copyright © 1991 Peter Newmark. Reprinted 1992, 1993, 1996. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. Index compiled by Meg Davies (Society of Indexers). Typeset by Wayside Books, Clevedon. Printed and bound in Great Britain by the Longdunn Press Ltd. < previous page page_iv next page > < previous page page_v next page > Page v Contents Introduction vii 1 Translation as Means or End - As Imitation or Creation 1 2 Translation: An Introductory Survey 14 3 Translation Today: The Wider Aspects of Translation 42 4 Translation for Language Teaching and Professional Purposes 61 5 The Use of Systemic Linguistics in Translation 65 6 The Virtues of Interference and the Vices of Translationese 78 7 Word and Text: Words and their Degree of Context in Translation 87 8 Translation and Mis-translation: The Review, the Revision, and the Appraisal of a Translation 101 9 Pragmatic Translation and Literalism 115 10 Teaching Translation 129 11 Teaching about Translation 139 12 The Translation of Political Language 146 13 Translation as an Instrument of Linguistic, Cultural and Literary Criticism 162 References 175 Index 179 < previous page page_v next page > < previous page page_vi next page > Page vi Introduction The 13 chapters that follow are a selection made by Derrick Sharp from the 2530 papers I have published in the last 23 years. The second is the introductory chapter of the ASLIB Translator's Handbook (2nd edn, edited Catherine Picken, 1989); nine originated as papers for translation conferences; three are contributions to festschriften (for Michael Halliday, Albrecht Neubert and Wolfram Wilss). Originally I categorised these papers under five heads: overviews; special topics; word and text; teaching translation; translation as a weapon. But the logic of this sequence will become apparent only if and when subsequent volumes are published. These papers stand as independent essays published between 1982 and 1990, and require no connecting links, but the following brief summaries may be useful. Chapter 1. Translation as Means or EndAs Imitation or Creation attempts to unify my dual theory of semantic and communicative methods of translation by proposing a correlation and its corollary; it puts forward a critical and evaluativeas opposed to a descriptive and neutral approach to translation; it characterises a fruitful method of discussing translation; and it attempts to define the creative and the imitative elements of translation. (Previously unpublished). Chapter 2. Translation: An Introductory Survey reviews some of the facts about translation and translators throughout the world in 1983. It includes a discussion of the types of meaning that concern the translator. I would today (!) summarise these as: (1) linguistic (explained best through synonymy, paraphrase or translation); (2) referential (denotative, referring to extra-linguistic or imaginative reality, the facts of the matter); (3) pragmatic (the effect on the readers on various occasions, including invariant factors about the writer, the linguistic register used, and evident connotations); (4) phonaesthetic (the significance of the rhythms and sounds in the source language text). Chapter 3. Translation Today: The Wider Aspects of Translation describes the five purposes of translation, considers translation as a profession, and reviews six recent works on translation. < previous page page_vi next page > < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii Chapter 4. Translation for Language Teaching and Professional Purposes summarises the place of translation in language teaching and the qualifications of a professional translator and then focuses on the present importance of German non-literary and literary translation. Chapter 5. The Use of Systemic Linguistics in Translation is a tribute to M. A. K. Halliday's service in providing both a technique and a vocabulary of translation analysis; it is also a criticism of his perception of the functions of language as applied to translation. Chomsky's insight into personal nonsocial language is altogether more profound. Chapter 6. The Virtues of Interference and the Vices of Translationese lists the varieties of interference in translation and demonstrates in each case that if practised out of ignorance or negligence, it is likely to be misleading, senseless and often disastrous. If it is practised deliberately, either because it makes good sense or because it fills a semantic gap in the target language, it may be creative. Chapter 7. Word and Text: Words and their Degree of Context in Translation examines the degrees of independence/dependence of a word from its context within a text or its translation. Chapter 8. Translation and Mis-translation: The Review, the Revision and the Appraisal of a Translation points out contrasts between text-linguistics and literal translation in discussing a translation of an extract from Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf. Chapter 9. Pragmatic Translation and Literalism contrasts the factors of dynamic equivalence and of literal translation for the purpose of verification in assessing an article in Le Monde as translated in the Guardian Weekly. Chapter 10. Teaching Translation discusses the qualities of a good translation teacher, describes my own teaching procedure in a typical translation class, and specifies the preferred subjects in the curriculum of a postgraduate translation course. Chapter 11. Teaching about Translation describes the evolution, the syllabus and the possible translation procedure for a course in 'principles and methods of translation', alias 'translation theory, translation studies, translatology et al.'. Chapter 12. The Translation of Political Language reviews a few of the large number of politico-philosophical concept-words that have a wide range of meanings depending on period and cultural community; they can therefore easily be misunderstood in translation. With the present collapse of Marxist-Leninist ideology and the increasing affirmation of a language based on universal human, animal, and ecological rights, this < previous page page_vii next page > < previous page page_viii next page > Page viii confusion may eventually clear a little. Pravda vitezi ('truth prevails', CzechT. G. Masaryk)but it takes a long time. Chapter 13. Translation as an Instrument of Linguistic, Cultural and Literary Criticism is an affirmation of close translation as a method of exposing the weaknesses of a source language text embedded in its familiar culture and its familiar language, or as an instrument to expose the inaccuracies of published translations which have long distorted their originals by consciously or unconsciously burdening them with their translators' prejudices. Acknowledgments My best thanks to my best informants, Pauline, Elizabeth and Matthew Newmark. Sources Chapter 2 The Translator's Handbook (2nd edn). ed. C. Picken. ASLIB, 1989. Chapter 3 Translation Studies: State of the Art, Vol. I. ed. G. Anderman and M. A. Rogers. University of Surrey Centre for Translation and Language Studies, 1988. Chapter 4 German in the UK. CILT Papers, London, 1986. Chapter 5 Language Topics (Essays in Honour of Michael Halliday), Vol. I. ed. Ross Steele and Terry Threadgold. Benjamins, Amsterdam, 1987. Chapter 6 Festschrift für Albrecht Neubert. KMU, Leipzig, 1990. Chapter 8 Textlinguistik und Fachsprache. ed. Reiner Arntz. Olms, Hildesheim, 1988. Chapter 9 Pragmatic Translation. ed. Judy Woodsworth. University of Montreal, 1989. Chapter 10 Teaching Translation. ed. G. Magnusson and S. Wahlen. Stockholm University, 1988. Chapter 11 Ubersetzungswissenschaft Ergebnisse und Perspektiven (Festschrift für W. Wilss). Narr, Tübingen, 1990. Chapter 12 Discussioni Linguistiche e Distanze Culturali. ed. J. M. Dodds. Trieste, 1986. < previous page page_viii next page > < previous page page_1 next page > Page 1 1 Translation as Means or EndAs Imitation or Creation The Process of Translation Translation is concerned with moral and with factual truth. This truth can be effectively rendered only if it is grasped by the reader, and that is the purpose and the end of translation.